Few players in the NBA can fill a box score quite like Russell Westbrook. The Oklahoma City Thunder point guard dropped 54 points, nine rebounds and eight assists Sunday in a 116-104 loss to the Indiana Pacers.
The 26-year-old shot 21-of-43 from the field, including 5-of-15 from behind the arc. The rest of his teammates combined to shoot 20-of-52. CBS Sports' Chris Towers believes that any criticism of Westbrook's shot selection is unwarranted:
But it was the one number that doesn't show up on the stat sheet that may make the biggest impact. According to Anthony Slater of The Oklahoman, Westbrook earned his 16th technical foul of the season, which means he should be suspended for OKC's game against the Portland Trail Blazers Monday night.
Kevin Durant let his opinion about the technical be known in an R-rated tweet. (Caution: Link contains profanity.)
With this latest loss, the Thunder sit a half-game back of the New Orleans Pelicans for the eighth seed in the Western Conference. Should the Pelicans fall to the Houston Rockets in their Sunday night matchup, New Orleans still owns the head-to-head tiebreaker with Oklahoma City.
As a result, losing to Portland could irreparably damage the Thunder's playoff hopes.
However, OKC head coach Scott Brooks remains confident Westbrook will be on the court, per Slater:
Before the season, it would've seemed crazy to think the Thunder could miss out on the postseason altogether, but they're teetering on the brink of that becoming a reality.
In a way, a Westbrook suspension partially costing OKC a playoff berth would be in line with the rest of the Thunder's season. Seemingly everything that could go wrong has gone wrong for the team.
//from Bleacher Report http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Bleacherreport/~3/-3-9lk1x4Og/2428704-russell-westbrook-scores-54-points-vs-pacers-faces-suspension-for-16th-tech
via IFTTT April 12, 2015 at 06:13PM
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